Word: caviar
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...Caviar House in London's guilded Green Park neighbourhood has long been a favoured haunt for those with deep pockets. Boasting 15 different grades of caviar from three different breeds, and a menu of specialist vodkas, the restaurant is also something of a haven for caviar connoisseurs...
...Caviar has always been a luxury [and] the booming demand has gone hand in hand with a lot more money [being] around in Britain," said Lucie Herring, public relations manager for Caviar House-Prunier. "It was the preserve of the old rich, like Russians, but now with City boys [those employed in London's financial district] coming in, the new rich...
...Rising demand has been accompanied by dwindling sturgeon stocks. Experts estimate that sources of caviar have fallen by more than 90% since the late 1970s because of overfishing. The supply crunch looks set to get worse as a ban intended to replenish the stocks of the depleted Caspian sea, which supplies about 90 percent of the world's caviar, was rescinded earlier this year to the outrage of environmentalists...
...Although the Caviar House meticulously sources its eggs from specialist farms in France and the Caspian Sea in Iran, other restaurants are less picky. One upmarket restaurant manager told TIME that the growth of black market caviar threatened the trade itself: 'There is a huge black market in Russian caviar in particular," the manager said. "You get some people who come in and say 'I've got a jar of Beluga for a hundred pounds ($200)', but it's been pasteurized to preserve it. It will threaten the trade if they [are allowed to] keep fishing and fishing...
...Despite the surge in illicit caviar making it onto the tables of Britain's restaurants, purists insist that there's no comparison between the bootleg version and the real thing. Experts claim that a caviar's quality can be tested by placing a little between thumb and forefinger. Once eaten, good eggs will leave no residue or fishy smell. "The taste is not the same - black market tell-tale signs are that it's oily and smells of fish," adds Herring...